[Xenoblade Chronicles XDE] Add more story content/sequel

Just recently finished chapter 13 and felt like writing down my epilogue thoughts in a thread to see your guys’ interpretations and thoughts. I’ve been with X since its very first teaser back in January 2013 so finally being here and having a conclusion of sorts to its original story plus parts of its cut content added back in was a dream come true, even with some parts evidently not feeling like they were part of the original vision and other aspects. Kudos to whoever reads all this. — ***Story Pacing*** Starting off with story pacing, deeefinitely felt the faster pace compared to the base game, though I also didn’t mind it since I’m big on story and honestly wanted something dense for X. Act 1 alone felt like multiple chapters in one for the standards of the base chapters, and between all three acts, it felt like half the game’s worth of story packed into one epilogue. That and the story material was pretty dense too with the exposition dumps and concepts like parallel dimensions and the Abyss. I paused to write down new story revelations after each scene and I’ve rewatched cutscenes so I have a good handle on the story I think.  — ***Old vs. New Concepts?*** Jumping to the parallel dimensions reveal, I can’t really tell whether the parallel universe stuff is wholly new material being thought up now to tie X into the greater xenoblade multiverse, as presented to us in Al’s exposition dump flashback, or if elements of it existed since the original draft by Tetsuya Takahashi. Luxaar establishes in chapter 12 that the Samaarians arrived from another plane at the dawn of the cosmos, so we knew from the original that the Samaarians had cross-dimensional travel technology.  At the same time though, said words also don’t imply the existence of there being multiple dimensions beyond the one the Samaarians left from and the current one. The notion that Void erases all worlds he conquers and Mira’s dimension disappearing despite this not being mentioned by the Ganglion in the base game comes off as a new plot point only being made now, with only Void privy to this information.  There’s also the matter of Professor B’s questline which establishes that he’s unable to escape Mira even via time travel, and after doing Professor B’s Return, his assistant Veven mentions that Mira’s surrounded by a space-time barrier. Then you’ve got Julius next to the Mimeosome Maintenance Center hearing from a ma-non that the space around Mira is small. This lends credence to the idea that Mira was in its own pocket dimension. And to add, during the initial chapter 6 cutscene, Goetia states that “the phenomenon space surrounding this planet is only 800 exedits in diameter. Three days at light speed is more than enough to scour it thoroughly.” adding to the sense that the space around Mira is small (at least by Manon and Ganglion standards). These aspects have me thinking both cases may be true: some element of the idea existed in Takahashi’s original story draft before it got scrapped, while also implementing new material like the connection to the numbered trilogy. The way the Ghosts were used here also felt partway between the story’s original vision and its current trajectory. Though they were already established in the original, chapter 13 tells us that they spawn from dematerialization events. Looking back at the opening however, not a single demat event is to be seen, which feels inconsistent with the new lore unless the idea is that demat events already started eating away at Earth’s universe off-screen and they emerged from those, likely the new explanation. — ***Inconsistencies with We Were Soldiers and Forging BLADE***  That and I noticed some other details that seemed to be retconned, most notably the nature of the Ares. Doug says this during the “We Were Soldiers” affinity mission: *“Thought we made pretty good time, too, but then you always were one step ahead…Remember? Back when Earth was hit– that lone Skell that struck back before anyone else?...Come to think of it, that was a tandem Skell, wasn’t it? Weren’t you with, er–”* And looking at Gessenkou’s translation of the **Forging BLADE** Short Story written by Yuichiro Takeda, here’s this line: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NZO8F6qMK8cWr8LYhj4g4P7Quu-\_jZadkQXyFBaLm6g/pub](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NZO8F6qMK8cWr8LYhj4g4P7Quu-_jZadkQXyFBaLm6g/pub) *“She had repelled the alien bio-weapons together with a young man, before crashing on the planet. The Doll the two of them had been riding had been blown outside of the ship at that time. However, the young man opened the hatch just before, and threw Elma back towards the Moby Dick.”* The cutscene from act 2 portrays Al as solo-piloting the Ares contrary to Doug’s line here, and on that same note, while Doug struggles to remember who Elma was with during that affinity mission, he immediately recognizes AI in the epilogue, praising his feats.  Going back to that short story too, it establishes BLADE’s creation as coming after they crash-landed on Mira, while Al’s second affinity mission “One Big Happy Family” has him insinuate that BLADE’s existed since the White Whale was in space: *Al: “Are you telling me BLADE’s being used for busywork like that nowadays?...I‘d heard the rumors, but wow. Just how far the mighty have fallen…”* It feels like they overlooked “We Were Soldiers” and **Forging BLADE** for the epilogue story, and that may not be too far off based on a bit of research I did and personal speculation.  — ***A Reason for the Inconsistencies*** The scenario writers for X were Yuichiro Takeda, Kazuho Hyodo, and Mamoru Ohta, while Tetsuya Takahashi provided the concept. For DE however, the scenario writers were Tetsuya Takahashi (who’s been on scenario for everything except vanilla X and FC) and Kazuho Hyodo. Mamoru Ohta was still on XDE as event scenes director, but Yuichiro Takeda didn’t work on (or at least isn’t credited for) the scenario for this at all, though he’s been scenario writer on everything but FC.  What’s significant is that not only was Yuichiro Takeda X’s scriptwriter alongside Kazuho Hyodo (as noted in the Iwata Asks interview on XBX), but he also wrote **Forging BLADE** mentioned above. Given these details, my guess is that XDE’s scenario writers either overlooked, weren’t aware of, or wanted to change these plot elements, hence the inconsistencies with this short story and that particular affinity mission since all three line up pretty much perfectly I think. The last inconsistency I noticed was Lin already being on Elma’s team back in space, as Elma refers to her and Cross as her new team members - following the deaths of Danny and Boris - when speaking with Lao in chapter 4, which could very well have been another detail Takeda wrote. With these inconsistencies and changes in mind, it led me down the path of wondering whether the focus on Mira itself being special was also of Takeda’s creation. In **Forging BLADE**, the following is stated: *“However, that did not mean the Moby Dick was safe. A strange planet had appeared before the ship. One that was not marked on the space chart they had acquired before departing the Earth.”* This is followed by a remark from Nagi:  *“Why had nobody noticed the planet before then? Was it because we were too busy dealing with the pursuit forces? Or...”* Here, it’s established that Mira’s appearance was out of the ordinary and not marked on the space chart, already insinuating that something special existed about Mira. In retrospect, the new lore about switching to an alternate dimension could still work for this, but even barring that, the game is laden with various NPC dialogue and story cutscenes that pay focus to Mira itself having some unexplainable anomalies, such as the ability for multiple xeno species/races to understand each other despite speaking different languages.  Again, this comes down to Takeda being one of OG X’s scriptwriters while Takahashi was credited for the concept; it’s possible Takeda had his own ideas for the story’s direction compared to Takahashi’s plans for the original story draft and/or his current plans going forward. Given it’s been 10 years since the original X and some of its potential concepts being used by later games in the series (Ouroboros paralleling the tandem Ares, the existence of a space elevator, digitizing souls/consciousnesses as data to revive people, the concept of annihilation events vs. demat events, possible Conduit implementation), I see the epilogue as Takahashi’s way to shift X into a space he wants to build upon for the next story arc. And unfortunately, that meant abandoning some of the plot threads that were built up in the original… — ***Mira’s Destruction*** This brings me to the elephant in the room: the destruction of Mira along with its entire universe. X’s base game spends its entire duration establishing Mira as humanity’s new home and focusing on their fight to survive, and we sat on that understanding for nearly a decade. Learning that Mira was going to be destroyed so soon after beating the Ganglion really did put a bad taste in my mouth - at least at first - given all the mysteries they’d set up about the planet and the story’s focus. As I played through the epilogue though, I actually started to come around to the idea even if the execution was rather rushed and could’ve used more fleshing out in an ideally longer story. Coming to terms with Mira being doomed, I at least wanted to see the characters’ reactions to it and how they’d send off Mira, and I was mostly satisfied with what they did given the time they had. Act I gives us the cast’s emotional reactions to the news, Act II serves as a final send-off to Mira, and the start of Act III finally solidifies its destruction and farewell. Multiple times, the main cast laments the fact that they’ll have to leave yet again - most notably Elma and Lin - and seeing NLA get destroyed felt like a major gut-punch given all the work we’d done to build it up, which I appreciated from the characters.  — ***Act II's Themes*** With Act II, I also liked the two quests they sent us on. The thematic throughline for the epilogue really focused on the importance of cherishing life even amidst destruction and the will to survive, which plays out in both quests as we deal with two people who’d initially resolved themselves to die along with Mira.  I don’t remember if Omomo’s a new NPC to DE but I did remember speaking to her earlier in the game so it was neat having her come up in the story. Given her age, her husband having already passed, and being a Miran native, I could understand her wanting to just stay and be with her husband again. I did have my grievances with her reasoning of being a burden on her children so I aligned with Lin’s thoughts to an extent, but ultimately it’s something she decided for herself. So when we return to NLA and hear that she did change her mind, it was actually a nice bit of relief, especially with the reasoning Kylie gives about Omomo feeling like she’d be abandoning her responsibility to her still-living family. More of a gap between her decision to stay and then subsequent reversal would’ve helped the impact I feel, but the thought was there. This feels like another byproduct of the epilogue being too dense for its format. Whereas Omomo’s quest provided a glimpse into why some xeno races/individuals might’ve chosen to stay and their reason to live, Ted’s felt like our final send-off to Mira. I deliberately drove/flew my way to each location, and going on what was effectively one final world tour and witnessing all the demat events that’d cropped up really gave off that sense of somber finality. Mira - in all its beauty - was being erased and there was nothing we could do about it but salvage some of its DNA and get ready to leave. As the characters espouse, Ted has a duty to humanity to survive and help them build a new home post-Mira, but that doesn’t mean all of Mira has to be completely abandoned in a sense. And thanks to the White Whale 2 including the protoplasmic fluid that enables the synthesis of new life, the door’s still open for them to preserve and re-introduce Mira’s flora and fauna, if they decide to follow up on that. Ideally I’d have liked more Basic and Normal missions during Act II dedicated to more of these kinds of quests, but again, another limitation of the epilogue’s length and format. — ***The Contrast between the First and Second Project Exodus*** That quest ties into another point I appreciate about the epilogue: the contrast between the first Project Exodus and the second.  Though the first had the mission of preserving the human race, it was also predicated on the selfish whims of the world’s elites, highlighting humanity’s selfish nature and breeding people like Lao who realized that. In contrast, the second is built upon the collaboration of mankind and the ma-non in hopes of preserving as many xeno races as possible without discrimination, an even more poignant proposition when you’ve invited multiple species into NLA including the very same Prone clan who’ve killed some of your own people. It stands emblematic of the epilogue’s - and to an extent, the base game’s - themes of survival in the face of annihilation and the will to live, highlighting more of humanity’s good qualities too. It feels like a direct response to Lao’s sentiments in that way. — ***New Elements Amidst Original Story*** Beyond those points, I felt the other new material fit along well with the base game and/or may have been intentional from the beginning.  The Great One being the predecessor to the Ganglion and missing was established by Luxaar in the main story, as was the reveal that Samaarians created the original ganglion to serve them, noted by Lao. Thus Void being a Samaarian and his motivations still fit. Seeking out the Ares but unable to accomplish it merely by himself, he creates the Ganglion to do his bidding. In order to keep them under his control, he implements them with a failsafe that will destroy them should they come into contact with human - and by extension, samaarian - DNA. He then uses them to “know death”, killing off countless worlds, subjecting their people, and adding them to his army, eventually growing into the Ganglion crime syndicate as it exists in X. Then when Elma’s people recreate the Ares, he catches wind of this and invades her homeworld. Barring the parallel universe and Abyss parts, I could understand a “collective unconscious” existing within Mira, acting as the means by which humanity was still alive despite the destruction of the Lifehold Core database. That and possibly even explaining why different xeno species were able to understand each other.  And there’s even a short mention in Elma’s postgame affinity mission “Then and Now” where she ponders the idea of everyone setting sail “aboard a new White Whale. To carry forth the bonds we forged on Mira.” This gives me the impression that leaving Mira behind was always going to be on the docket at some point in its overarching story. — ***My Excitement for the Future*** And while I’m speaking to the epilogue’s strengths in my belief, I actually really do love the new concepts themselves and what they mean for the story’s future. The idea of introducing a collective unconscious and harnessing it to accomplish tasks mirrors that of the U.M.N from Xenosaga and could open the door to some interesting character interactions and introspective moments as characters unravel their own inner turmoil and trauma, as we saw with Al and Lao discussing the latter’s regret and the former passing on their conversation to Lin. That and it provides a means for how the X cast can regain biological bodies and have the story continue implementing characters who have already passed but have some words of wisdom to offer to those still alive, like Irina’s brother Leon, Lin’s parents, Elma’s people, and the aforementioned Lao. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up seeing that beach, or at least the iconography of a beach, again… The presence of the Ghosts and the few details we have on them also set them up to be our next big threat for an X2 and quite possibly the largest-scale antagonistic force the series has seen yet. Looking at their enemy index entry:  *“Though* ***their true nature is shrouded in mystery***\*, the light that ghosts give off has been confirmed to turn their targets into pillars of salt. Ghosts have no apparent will of their own, their actions more suggestive of a\* ***force of nature inorganic in origin***\*.”\* This alone suggests we’ll be seeing more of the Ghosts in the future, especially considering their threat goes unresolved by the end of the epilogue. Though we manage to escape Mira’s universe, the fact remains that as long as the cast has the Ares’ cores with them, the Ghosts will continue to chase them and erase any dimension they so much as step foot (or tentacle?) on. Based on this, I believe the story of an X2 would involve seeking out their true nature and discovering a way to either stall/repel demat events or even eliminate the Ghosts as a whole if that’s even possible. And given their parallels to the Gnosis from Xenosaga, this could also play into the increased role of the Abyss/Collective Unconscious in the future. And by introducing parallel dimensions, it feels like a deliberate choice to connect X with the numbered titles and likely have the X cast land on the newly created planet at the end of FR, be it as X2’s opening or ending point. Drawing from the Miran Archives, Ch.13, Act 3’s summary says this: *“With the Ares’s cores recovered and Void no more, the survivors engage the jump drive and depart the universe in its final throes.* ***What awaits them in the next one?****”* To me, this feels like a deliberate “statement” that X2 will be the next game, akin to how Future Connected alluded to the main premise of XB3 + Future Redeemed. And speaking of XB3, there’s the concept of Origin which - thanks to the new lore points from XDE - likely means they’ve accomplished some method of accessing the Abyss and retrieving consciousnesses from it. As noted before, the White Whale 2 has access to Lifehold units, genetic data from some of Mira’s flora and fauna, and protoplasmic fluid as a means to synthesize life, but they’re now missing a relay to the Abyss due to the destruction of the Lifehold Core’s databases.  Assuming this plays out the way I’m theorizing it to, it provides a gateway to more exploration of the collective unconscious and alternate dimensions, or domains to draw more parallels to Xenosaga. I’ll probably make another topic just dedicated to the lore and future theorizing stuff since this write-up is long enough as is. — ***Characters*** Moving on to characters, I loved the character work on display in the epilogue. Elma and Lin got a lot more to work with, especially the latter in how Lao’s situation and Mira’s destruction impact her, and we’re introduced to a handful of new characters including the hero Al. \~ **Elma** Starting off with Elma, I enjoyed the new dimensions (pun intended) they added to her character. In the base game, Elma’s portrayed as the reliable, steadfast leader who gets things done even when the situation proves to be a difficult one. Very rarely does she let out emotionally charged responses, and even then, she quickly regains composure afterwards like in her final affinity mission “Then and Now”. Because of this, Elma’s attitude in Act I did feel like a stark contrast to the base game at first. That said, it’s also understandable considering the lore we find out about having lost both her homeworld and Earth and now on the verge of losing a third home yet again. So for that reason, I did ultimately get behind her more sullen and downtrodden outlook earlier on. Plus that’s not to say Elma doesn’t still command respect as a leader throughout the epilogue, especially in Acts II and III where she continues to advise and instruct the team and deliver that final speech before Volitaris. On that similar note, I appreciated how much more vulnerable Elma became around Al, letting us see a facet of her character we hadn’t before. This part was primed from the base game given the times she shuts down discussion on the lone hero during affinity and main story missions. Her initial conversation with Al in the restricted hangar finally provides insight into why this was the case, and with it, reveals feelings of guilt, regret, and relief that were interesting to see. That and the acknowledgement of Cross’ role in helping her understand the importance of individual human lives and compassion from chapter 11 was appreciated. All this builds up to her speech about human compassion and the nature of one’s soul before heading off into Volitaris. Ideally this epilogue would’ve been a fully-fledged sequel to showcase Elma’s growth over a longer time span rather than just over 5ish hours, but the sentiments she stated still felt earned and warranted to me. After the Lifehold Core discovery, losing Mira, learning of the true nature of the universe/parallel dimensions, philosophical musings on the Ares and souls, and the creation of Project Exodus 2, it’s made abundantly clear to Elma that the human will to survive is a powerful force and not something to be disregarded. \~ **Lin** Lin’s definitely one of the biggest highlights of the cast during this epilogue as we get to see her feel more like a kid having to navigate her feelings about leaving Mira and Lao’s impact on her. At multiple points, Lin despairs and dwells on these negative emotions, fearing she’s not the good person Lao says she is and wondering whether they’ll actually be able to defeat Void.  It’s a side to her that I felt we didn’t really get to see much of in the base game and I appreciate how much they delved into her psyche here. After so much fighting just to lose it all again, it’s completely understandable why she feels the way she does, and yet thanks to Lao’s posthumous words, she maintains the resolve to live, ultimately overcoming this turmoil. Her childlike attitude and view of the world also comes through during Omomo’s quest in Act II where she tries to push her viewpoint on Omomo. Though from a place of concern and kindness, she proposes the “real” way to happiness as she views it and doesn’t seem to consider Omomo’s thoughts on being with her husband again. It isn’t until Elma talks her down that she relents. While being impassioned, especially in something as significant as life or death, isn’t something that’s exclusive to kids, I did feel her response to the matter in contrast to Elma - and potentially your PC - highlighted that idea. \~ **Lao** Moving on to Lao, this part really disappointed me, at least at first. 100% it felt like the original intention was for Lao to still be alive, so to have him just be on his way to the afterlife was a downer. That said, as a send-off to the character, I still ended up enjoying it. We got to see Lao regret his actions in the base game and come to terms with what he’s done to Lin, leading him to believe he couldn’t atone for it all. As we saw from the base game, the revelation about Project Exodus really instilled in him a complete sense of hopelessness and resentfulness towards humanity, and yet in spite of that, Lin served as the light besides it all. So having him deliver one final message to her as a “thanks” of sorts and glimmer of hope before passing on to reunite with his dead family felt like a good conclusion for his character I think. Whether he “deserves” to or not given what he did is another matter, but I think it closes out his story in a respectful way, especially when we note his Japanese VA’s passing and having a send-off to him as well.  There’s another point I’ll bring up about Lao in the later section about Void, but that narrative throughline also contributed to my appreciation for his death scene. \~ **Al** Next is the man of the hour, Alois Bernholt, aka Mr. How’s it poppin’? Speaking of which, I actually found the joke hilarious by the end albeit more in an ironic sense. Honestly I can’t tell whether or not that was the intention; they had to have known how many times they played that joke, especially with the epilogue’s cutscene density and likelihood that players would prioritize its story over side content by that point. More on his actual character though, he very easily rose to one of my favorites in X. I love the guy’s energy and his penchant for using sci-fi flicks as an analogy for the more complex concepts introduced was a fun part of him (plus him being a karen when it comes to pizza). That and his casual dialogue helps make him more endearing. He’s definitely the kind of character that’s needed for the heavy exposition dumps without them feeling too overly complicated and/or dry. And I appreciated how they followed up on Elma’s heart to heart about her friend being into classic cars, adding another bit of characterization to him. On a similar note, I liked his relationships to Elma and Lin: for the latter, a good friend/mentor figure looking out for her well-being, and to the former, a trusted albeit difficult partner. That said, I do wish we learned why he calls Elma “princess” since that goes unexplained as far as I could tell. \~ **The Main Cast as a Whole** As for the rest of the main cast, I appreciated the extra lines they got despite not having any new pieces of characterization added. A lot of the group scenes felt more reminiscent of the numbered trilogy in having a close-knit/united party, though the group laughs felt kinda cheesy and unearned considering how little we see them together in the base game. From memory, I can only recall “We Were Soldiers” and Chapter 12, with the former also lacking L, so having a group dynamic like that comes as a stark contrast to the base game imo. Even with Ch.12 they’re not really exchanging jokes with each other, though to be fair, the circumstances there do warrant a more serious tone. \~ **Void** When it comes to Void, I think he serves his purpose in the story well as a foil to the main cast. In contrast to humanity fighting for the right to survive and thrive on a new planet, Void causes death and destruction with no real meaning to it other than as a fruitless attempt to “understand death”. And yet in spite of all his accumulated knowledge and awareness of the Abyss, he fails to truly understand its meaning and instinctively cowers from it, showcasing his hypocrisy. Upon finally dying and learning the truth of what it entails, he goes out kicking and screaming, while pondering where he’ll end up. As Al brings up in relation to Lao and his final words to Void, this ties into the concept of Nirvana and one’s state of existence upon reaching it. Drawing upon some quotations from Carl Jung’s Visions Seminar regarding the idea of nirvana and the cycle of death and rebirth: ***“The Buddhist idea of nirvana is a nonexistent existence, or an existent nonexistence; it is not merely a nothingness. Nirvana is a positive non-being and the unconscious is exactly that, a yea and a nay in itself.” \~Carl Jung, Visions Seminar, Page 91*** ***“So whoever can let go of the revolving wheel will not be reborn, he will be annihilated; as an accomplished one, a perfect one, he will not return, he will extinguish himself utterly in nirvana, in the positive non-being.” \~Carl Jung, Visions Seminar, Page 852*** And now bringing up a quote from Void during Act II: ***Void: “The bested will simply cease to be. That is not death. Self-evidently, as I have no conception of it. Ceasing to be…It is simple non-existence.”*** From Void’s understanding, ceasing to be is a state of non-existence without any real meaning or emotional connotations to it, thus he fails to grasp the significance behind it. Just prior to the scene this encounter takes place in, we’re shown Lao’s ascension into the afterlife, having lived through loss, grief, hopelessness, and regret, bitter thoughts borne from having experienced the death of loved ones. As such, we first find him lying on that beach in the Rift as he relieves his regrets upon Al. In doing so and resolving to send one final message of hope to Lin, Lao found peace and acceptance in his death, finally satisfied and ready to reunite with his loved ones. In this sense, Lao effectively achieves nirvana, something Void could never attain due to his intense, instinctual fear and rejection of death despite wishing to understand it. The specific placement of Lao’s death scene just before this reveal from Void highlights this point and I feel furthers the story’s message and themes in an effective way. As Void puts it himself, the question now is: where will he go? Given he goes out in blue motes as opposed to golden motes like Lao does, nirvana does not seem to be the answer… — ***Gameplay*** Next part I’d like to focus on: the gameplay.  Focusing on the Ghosts briefly, I liked their mechanic of finding the glowing core and destroying it to continue dealing damage. It’s a great way of implementing the appendage system in my opinion and highlights the Ghosts as a potentially dangerous enemy in both story and gameplay.  Speaking on Volitaris, I really enjoyed this new final dungeon. I appreciated the field theme overriding Don’t Worry, and both that and the battle theme are fantastic tracks in their own right. The mini cave systems on the right-hand side of the map were a fun piece of land to explore, though I did get walled (pun intended) on finding the top-right spear inside the island because the opening blended in with the rest of the wall for me. And having a brand new area fully designed to make use of the flight module also added to the variety in level design. I liked having to find all the party members and each of them - including the optional members - having a brand-new voiced monologue really impressed me, especially with how just about all of them still sounded on point. The only one who sounded kinda off was H.B. having a much deeper timbre to his voice. Honestly the fact that they got all of the VAs back barring Vandham (Darin De Paul, your work is phenomenal and you were sorely missed) for so relatively few lines aside from the main story cast also gives me extra hope that they’ll reappear in an X2, but that may just be wishful thinking on my part. The only part that actually annoyed me was the mini-quest to kill the three Trinity Galdr. It took forever for me to find the last one behind one of the floating rocks to the point that I wish they just counted it as a normal mission and marked it on the map, but it’s a fully admitted skill issue on my part. Lastly, the final boss mechanics were a fun idea too. Having a time limit to beat Void before he escapes during the first phase was interesting, and the implementation of the appendage system to weaken him via the spears also felt engaging (though I did deliberately reload an earlier save to make the final boss fights harder). And on a very personal note, that remix of The Key We’ve Lost sent absolute chills down my back. I remember rewatching X’s second trailer over and over again just to listen to the song, and learning it was the final boss theme felt like it all came full circle. So to experience that again with the remix being the epilogue’s new final boss theme, I couldn’t ask for more honestly. — ***Music*** Speaking of music, I loved every new track they made for DE. Volitaris' field and battle theme are fantastic and I've been listening to the battle theme ever since I found a good upload of the complete version online. The parts they placed Al's theme in felt perfect for the scenario and really amplified the mood and hype for me, and the same goes for the brand new ending cutscene track. And of course, the new final boss track for phase 1 also popped off, albeit I had a harder time hearing it during the fight itself. After listening to it separately, I appreciated it more.  Interestingly, PianoX3 (that piano arrangement of Sylvalum's theme) also got its first use in-game here; previously it wasn't featured at all so that was nice to see. And lastly, I loved how much they used existing ones like CODENAMEZ, THEMEX, MONOX, Melancholia, So nah, so fern, and NEMOUSU秘OUS, all of which stand among my favorite tracks in the game. Especially so considering some of these only played once or twice in the base experience, so hearing them used again was a dream. — ***Final Thoughts*** Overall, I loved the epilogue. In spite of its inconsistencies with the base game, rushed pacing, and likelihood that we’ll never get to see the original story draft as it once was, the new story elements they’ve introduced and thematic throughlines have me very much intrigued and stoked for the series’ future, assuming they do follow up on those points which I believe they will. I also really enjoyed the additional character work, gameplay, and how all this serves the epilogue’s themes of surviving in the face of annihilation and the will to live. And of course, the music was on-point as always for this series (praise goes out to Hiroyuki Sawano and Misaki Umase for their new tracks). Again, kudos to anyone who read this given how long I ended up going on for, but those were most of my unbridled thoughts on chapter 13. Edit: I was thinking more on Al and Void as characters and the nature of the abyss, and it actually got me appreciating the epilogue even more than I already do thanks to its thematic resonance with both the story and myself experiencing the game as a player. Hence why I’m adding in this addendum now. — ***Addendum: Loving Mira in All Its Parts*** Going back to Al and my thoughts on him, the last but arguably most significant element of his character on a plot and thematic level are his ideals on loving all of creation and embracing the world in its full glory. As we learn prior to the final boss fight, the Ares itself has the power to tap into the abyss and function as a vessel for all sentient life. Al’s schtick about loving the world in all its parts isn’t just a neat facet of his character; it’s the fundamental basis through which the full power of the Ares can be unleashed, hence the message that Al stresses to Cross during his first affinity mission.  This acts not just as a thematic throughline for the epilogue, culminating in your character piloting the Ares in the final battle, but also as a testament to X in its own right. The game’s about the journey, not the destination; it invites you to immerse yourself in exploring Mira, meeting the NPCs and getting to know their stories, getting involved with the sidequests and bettering people’s lives and bonds. X wants you to love everything about Mira and its inhabitants, putting you directly into Cross’ shoes at the beginning of Act III as someone who’s grieving the loss of your new home, emphasized by Cross being the last one to linger outside the White Whale 2 after NLA is consumed by demat events. Contrast this with Void: a being whose intense fear of death leads him to continuously run away and slaughter countless worlds just to prolong his own existence, valuing solitude over all else. Despite understanding the nature of the Rift and being the very creator of the Ares Prime, he himself fails to understand its true power in light of his complete disregard for life. To meet his own demise by the union of all sentient life serves as a poetic end to his existence, and unlike them, he won’t be joining them in the abyss. Void’s last response before his screams of agony, “Where will I go?” is the ultimate comeuppance for all the pain he’s caused and yet feels like the words of an innocent, pure child who sincerely wants to know the answer to his question.